DID ROADRUNNER RECORDS DUMP AMANDA PALMER BECAUSE OF HER BELLY FAT?
Tuesday, December 16th, 2008 at 5:20pm by Vince Neilstein“Contemporary UK Feminism” blog The F-Word is reporting that Roadrunner Records have dumped singer Amanda Palmer (of Dresden Dolls fame) “Because she refused to let them remove shots of her “fat” belly from the video for “Leeds United” (see above), and is therefore ‘uncommercial’.”
I call “bullshit journalism.”
While it would certainly be tempting for a hard-line feminist to make this accusation, the author of this piece clearly has no understanding of how the music business works nor does she cite a source for this information. If Roadrunner did indeed drop Amanda Palmer (which is certainly plausible) I’d think it might have something to do with… oh, you know, poor record sales, or the fact that as a metal label Roadrunner just isn’t equipped to properly promote and market a cabaret act. Those would both be perfectly logical explanations, right? But no — the F-Word would have you believe that Roadrunner paid Ms. Palmer an advance, paid for the recording of a new album, paid for the above video, and THEN decided to pull the plug because said video has 2 seconds of belly jiggle on a perfectly healthy/normal body? Um, yeah. Right.
I generally support feminism, and lord knows the metal world is certainly full of asshole dudes who don’t respect women, but articles like this just give credence to those who claim feminists are full of shit.
Oh, and for the record, I think both Amanda Palmer and The Dredsen Dolls are both pretty fucking cool, one-of-a-kind acts.
-VN
[Thanks: Van Arseface]
[UPDATE: Apparently Amanda herself posted a blog on her website in response to the above referenced story in which she explains what really happened. In short: the truth was greatly exaggerated, as I suspected. Also, she is still on Roadrunner but has asked to be let out of her contract. -Ed. Thanks: Mahkiavelli]
IT’S TACO FIESTA NIGHT AT MY CRIB!
C’mon and join me, i’m making Sangria!
WEEEEEEEE!
This might shed some light on this…
http://blog.amandapalmer.net/post/62721071/the-rebellyon-the-deal-with-roadrunner-records
So she basically says…. exactly what Vince said. Yes, it sounds like guys at RoadRunner are a tad sexist and are most certainly assholes. However, it doesn’t sound like that had anything to do with the situation.
Gotta agree – though the F-Word may not be entirely wrong in their indictment of the sexist pigs over at RoadRunner, this is still “bullshit journalism.”
I actually bought this album the day it came out. The first Dresden Dolls album is great too.
The teeth are the source of her powers.
After watching the video, i think a more plausible explanation for them to be dropped is the fact that they suck balls. But hey, it’s Roadrunner. The label who has Slipknot as one of it’s flagships. So who knows?
Oh, and she looks like a tranny.
Is there really a need for another tranny pop star, or did Amy Winehouse die over the weekend?
She looks like the type of cunt that would pull the feminazi card the first chance she got.
WTF? Roadrunner signed this? And dumped money in it? This is the label that was once the home of Mercyful Fate, Sepultura, and Type O Negative. You’re right, metal sucks!
I believe Roadrunner dumped Amanda due to her style of music not her belly fat. Roadrunner obviously works with hard rock/metal bands. So where does Amanda fit? At any label other than Roadrunner.
We didn’t drop Amanda Palmer.
I could have sworn roadrunner was a metal label. Also isnt this website called metalsucks? Apparently it really does.
I feel like they probably dropped her because her music sounds like you would feel with a steel-wool toothbrush against your teeth.
Amanda and the Dresden Dolls have been with the label for YEARS. Are you suckers just noticing this now?
Hopefully they dropped her because she fucking sucks.
they dropped her because she is a scary looking tone deaf singer? i mean belly fat doesnt help either…but why did they sign this shit anyways?
Got to say, that was a terrible song and a terrible video, maybe, just maybe (as much as I find the recent Roadrunner stuff unlistenable), they realize she sucked?
To Jeremy Rosen:
Please take your factual, reasonable statements and go away. This is the intertubes, and damn it all if we don’t bitch and moan about something that we know nothing about just because we can.
Ohh man…Taco Bell has this double decker taco pack..truely..truely delicious-o…ohh…
Fudge…forgot what I was commenting about…well anyways….gossip is metal right?
GossipXcore
Yes, we suckers are just realizing this now. This is metal sucks, and Roadrunner has been a shitty second rate record label that no one follows for years. Some crappy label like steamhammer (what a gay name!) bought up all the detrius like Type O and Iced Earth, and RR is a craptastic label full of shit like this and Nickelback and Slipknot. So in short, fuck you. Thank you Vodka!
What actually happened was that Roadrunner complained about that two seconds of so-called “belly fat” and wanted it out of the video, which to Amanda was the last straw after a general lack of promotion for her apparently “uncommercial” new album. Granted, Roadrunner are generally a metal label, so I can understand if they didn’t entirely know what to do with it, but they didn’t seem to have any trouble promoting the Dresden Dolls.
Then AMANDA HERSELF asked to be dropped, which hasn’t happened yet, but it could be for the best.
# Jeremy Rosen Says:
December 16th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
We didn’t drop Amanda Palmer.
You could always reconsider.
<3 for amanda and for the dolls. you can love metal AND dark cabaret-pop.
I just thought the nature of the protest was cool.
# Bob Says:
December 17th, 2008 at 4:02 am
# Jeremy Rosen Says:
December 16th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
We didn’t drop Amanda Palmer.
You could always reconsider.
HA!
Every time I eat Taco bell I get the shits and pass out…
As for Amanda Palmer or The Dresden Dolls they’re pretty good, but RR was an odd match to begin with, so I don’t understand why they signed with them.
hibernum, don’t forget Ferret. They also sign our detritus.
Richaod, you’re talking out of your ass more than everyone else here. We’ve done tons of promotion for Amanda’s album. I don’t know where the “Roadrunner didn’t promote it” tripe started, but it’s complete bullshit.
Bob, you made me choke on my coffee.
I’m on her mailing list & a few weeks ago she seemed quite adamant about the orginal story. The F Word is blowing it out of proportion though. If Roadrunner did get iffy about how people would feel about her “belly fat” that would be more then a little hypocrital for them. This is a label that cared so little about offending people in the past, anyone remember such Slipknot lyrical gem as “I gonna slit you throat & fuck the wound,” or perhapes Deicide’s autopsied Jesus? Just sayin…
Roadrunner is a Warner Music Group label. Why should we expect anything else?
Why is this on metalsucks exactly?
I think I missed the belly fat?
The Dresden Dolls are cool, but I have never listened to this chick’s solo stuff until just now.
That being said, if you fucking moronic hypocrites can’t read her posted response to this whole situation and have an understanding of just how “metal” her mentality is, then you should just really go swallow some buckshot…
Because you’re pathetic
You’re not “metal”
You have no fucking clue what the word means
You do nothing but soil the very meaning of that which you pretend to love
Whats wrong w/ a Jewish girl having a little belly fat? Its kinda comes with the genes. Tribesman Axl and Vince – I think you’ll agree.
She has talent, but probably was more of a wrong place/wrong time situation. Im sure RR promoted her to the best of their abilities, situations pending. Its kinda hard to push and act like that. (by no means am I sticking up for Road Runner, but its understandable here).
Jeremy: okay, so I’m paraphrasing Amanda badly. In her own words:
“a few weeks later i had a meeting with the owner of the label. he said he thought it was a shame that someone as smart and talented as me could not make a commercial record that they could sell. and he thinks that someday i’ll see the light and write some better songs.
i told him i made exactly the record i wanted to make.
more than exactly. i think i’ve made an INCREDIBLE FUCKING record.
i really do.
he shook his head and felt sorry for me.
i feel sorry for them. they are trying to sell pieces of plastic in a digital world.
but they’re barking up the wrong tree if they think they can katy perry or avril lavigne me into the walmarts of the world.
not into it.
never was.
sorry.
i never wanted to sell millions of records as my primary goal, nor did i want to be a pop star.
i am very fucking happy with what they sneeringly call my “cottage industry” life.
so i think the relationship is rather doomed, from a creative standpoint.
i asked to be dropped a few weeks ago, so i could move forward in freedom.
they refused.
they have until june to decide whether to drop me or not.
let us pray.”
All you people whining about how the D.Dolls, suck, and “aren’t metal”, should at least go see them. Brian Viglione is a Fucking Huge Metalhead, and a badass drummer, one of the most entertaining in the business, and he hits the fuck outta his drums, unlike many of our beloved trigger-happy “metal” drummers. Plus, they covered War Pigs.
Great band, and, no, I’m not a teenage lesbian.
Amen to that, ezra. When I saw Dresden Dolls at the first Brainwaves fest in 2006, Brian’s drumming stunned me. I’d really love to see him in a Fantomas-type band, or at least something metal-ish.
So, what I don’t understand is that Amanda is ASKING to be dropped as she says in her blog, and it looks like she’s fulfilled her obligations for the 3 albums and now they are on to options.
If RR is so dissatisfied with her on multiple levels, then why DON’T they just let her go and find a new home?
It’s not like the are in dire need of cash…they have Nickelback and Slipknot. So, why keep her if both parties are unhappy?
Also…this is NOT the first time the execs at Roadrunner have been called sexist.
Roadrunner has a lot of good bands in its ranks in my opinion, but this stuff, eh…
Laurelyn,
As I understand it, the “No, virginia” b-side collection isn’t being counted as an album, so they actually have one more. And, I wouldn’t judge the Dresden Dolls by Amanda’s solo stuff, their first album is awesome. Brian loves kiss like you wouldn’t b’lieve.
Wow, talk about a typical case of people not doing their research because on the internet people just assume you know what you are talking about.
Okay, so a couple of you did some reading and posted intelligent replies, kudos to you.
Glad someone posted an excerpt from her blog. I shall add another from the rebellyon website to finish the context:
http://www.therebellyon.com/The_Rebellyon/News/Entries/2008/12/2_RoadRunner_Responds_.html
“I happen to work for Roadrunner Records and had always hoped we could get something on MetaFilter. Voila! (By the way, in that thread of belly pictures on The Shadow Box, mine is the one with the Roadrunner webmaster email address written on it.)
Obviously I wouldn’t be able to say anything in an official capacity, but I sure love Amanda’s ability to get her fans’ creative energy up and running. If you take a look at that, they turn from anger, to something silly, to a movement in a matter of ten forum pages. If nothing else this episode has provided me with a good, real example of fans of one of our artists doing a viral campaign; one I can turn to colleagues and say “no, your crappy mashup video idea is not a viral campaign, THIS IS.”
Also this is not a PR stunt on Roadrunner’s part. In fact, I was the first person at the label to notice it. This is much too clever for a record label, folks. I mean, “rebellyon?” Come on.
I hope the dude collecting the images sends them soon; we’ve only gotten twenty belly photos so far.”
It’ll be interesting to see how this turns out. My thoughts? She is talented and has integrity up the wazoo and while on one had she couldn’t have gotten where she is without RR’s help, but they (whoever is directly responsible) are being corporate douches about this. Hopefully RR will let her go, and if they do, I’d think she should go straight to knocking on the end record’s door. If they signed stolen babies and STGM, Amanda would be one of the more ‘normal’ acts on their roster.
Fuck roadrunner the 90s are over and so are they!
First: Roadrunner Records have a lot of great metal acts signed and I definitely support them, but clearly they should not have signed them in the first place (or Nickelback either), so they need to release her. And they do need to stop being hypocritical about the “belly fat” cause a lot of dudes on RR have belly fat and no one cares. Big deal.
Second: FUCK “THE F WORD” :)
hey, is there a section just for latest info?
Roadrunner Records dropped Amanda Palmer because she is a whining diva who lacks a voice or any writing talent. Amanda Palmer is the Sarah Palin of music who thinks she can draft out her first thought and be worshipped for it without doing the work it takes to be good, let alone great. Art takes hard work and I don’t know if Amanda is just lazy or thinks she knows everything or is too self-centered to notice that her work is not up to standard. Whatever her problem is, she is difficult to work with and not worth developing. Amanda is putting on a performance when she writes songs asking people to let her go… nobody wants to develop any future projects with her. Now she is doing shows with hack writer Neil Gaiman, another overrated “artist” who is too arrogant to learn his craft. People like these damn themselves to small audiences who dwindle over time and eventually publish their own projects on the Internet. Good luck. Also Gaiman and Palmer are Scientologists, which doesn’t help.
Amanda Palmer stinks. That’s why Roadrunner dropped her.